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The Strange Case of Brazil’s William “Thompson” Bezerra 41-0 (40)

Posted on 10/30/2018

By: Ken Hissner

After posting an amateur record of 96-2 with 68 knockouts winning both Cruiserweight and Heavyweight titles Brazil’s William “Thompson” Bezerra turned professional on May 8th 2010 at Perus, Brazil, winning the interim Brazilian Cruiserweight title with a second round knockout over Leonardo De Moura, 3-1 (3).

Bezerra would go onto score 14 knockouts including his debut until he won his only non-knockout fight with a DQ12 win over Paraguay born Hierro Salcedo 5-0 (5) on November 2nd 2010. In May of 2011 he knocked out Argentine born Ernesto Carnesse Gonzalez, 12-1, for the vacant WBC Mundo Hispano Cruiserweight Title in the first round. In October they had a rematch and he won by knockout in the 8th round. He fought 16 times in 2010 and 9 times in 2011.

In January of 2012 Bezerra knocked out Ricardo Augusto Souza, 8-0, in the first of 4 meetings with Bezerra winning all by stoppage. In June of 2013 Bezerra knocked out Jose Robson Dos Santos, 17-0, in 6 rounds. It was a WBA Fedelatin title defense. He would fight 8 times in 2012 and 3 times in 2013. He only fought twice in 2014 and twice in 2015. In his last year of boxing in 2016 he only fought once.

Bezerra would knockout the remaining fighters he faced scoring 26 straight knockouts ending March 20th 2016 knocking out Francisco Marcello Duarte Sobrinho 12-2 in San Paulo, Brazil. All of his fights were in Brazil but one in Mexico knocking out Austreberto Perez Maranon, 5-0, who retired after this fight. Bezerra was 28-0 (27) at the time. Only in his second fight did he not beat a fighter with a winning record.

Bezerra won the South American Cruiserweight title when he was 12-0, defending it 14 times. His highest ranking was in April of 2013 by the WBA at No. 4. He defeated 17 unbeaten fighters. His oppositions combined records were 350-68. He was only 31 when he retired. He was managed by former Argentine boxer Eduardo “El Gato” Corletti, 32-16-5, from 2010 to the end. He passed away in 2017. His biggest win was over George Chuvalo. His matchmaker was Mohammad Sanir from 2010 to the end. His trainers were Joaquim Orlando from 1999 to 2005. Then Jaime Sodre De Franca took over in 2009 to the end. From 2005 to 2009 it is unknown who trained him.

Bezerra has not fought since March of 2016. He has since become a boxing judge from 2012 to 2015 working on 5 shows for a total of 17 bouts. He also served as an inspector on 2 events in January and March of 2018.

In November of 2017 Bezerra contacted me via e-mail saying he had two bouts scheduled with one in December and the other in January. Neither one was fulfilled. As of now Bezerra is MIA!